Seeing isn't always Believing
by destiny writter
Summary: Chris Thorndyke, a child who hangs out with Sonic, but can't really do much to help. But what would happen if he actually had a very deadly past? And what happens is this past now comes and tries to claim his life? Does Sonic have what it takes to pull Chris out of this one? Or will Chris be left to fend for himself? (Sonic X Chris FRIENDSHIP) *Update dates are on profile page
1. Chapter 1: Project, Shutdown

**Seeing isn't always believing**

**Chapter1: Project, shut down**

I was running. From what or who? I wasn't sure. All that I knew was that, if I stopped, it was over for me.

The earth rumbled under my feet. Still, I ran on. I didn't turned around. I needed to get away. Every precious second is a matter of life and death.

'_BOOM!' 'CRACK!' _ Another building falls.

" Silver! " I heard a voice call. For a split second. I started to look back, but quickly stopped and dove the ground. A millisecond later, I feel the force of whatever was being thrown whip through my hair. I tuck my head in, and did a somersault. Once I knew it was safe, I bolt onto me feet once again. To my left, I saw agent Platinum running even with me a few feet away. She pointed to her ear, and I got the message.

My hand shot to my head Piece as I turned on the communication radio.

" Agent Silver Bullet here, this is head quarters, do you read me? " came a low voice.

" Ya, Rodney, I can hear you nice and clear." I answered.

" We need to shut that thing down before it destroys the entire city! "

"Ya, I know. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Ya. Kill it."

" Rodney! Can you _please_ not play Captain Obvious for once?! "

" Eh, sorry buddy. It's in my job description." He shot back.

I let out a long, exasperated sigh. " Can you tell me anything that might actually be helpful? "

" Sure. There's a platform about a mile ahead of you. It'd be a the perfect spot for a counter attack. You'll get a great vantage point from up there. All you need to do is sneak up onto the platform, jump onto his back, and violla. Our problems are solved."

" OK, but there's just one ittsy bittsy problem..."

" An what is that? " Rodney asked.

" How on earth am I going to get this thing off my tail?! "

" Honestly Silver, do you really think we're thick enough not to come up with a solution to such an easy problem? " A girl's voice sounded through his headphones. Silver rolled his eyes a the voice.

" I should have guessed they'd be sending you. You better not pull another damsel in distress situation, Ant." I growled at her, even though I felt relief flow through me, at the idea of her supporting me.

" What? You mean like the one your pulling right now?" She deadpanned back at me. I scowled. Rodney snickered on the other side of the line.

" The things I do for you guys." I muttered under my breath. " OK, but you better watch your back. I won't be able pull off another Tonllion rescue. No matter how we try to play it out. So you better be extra observant. Silver out!" I then disconnected the radio.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Antillia, one of my most trusted partners, parachutting out a jet onto the roof tops. as she was running close behind me, she took her samurai swords out, and grabbed them tightly. She was getting ready to pounce. Tilting her head towards me, she nods, giving me the signal to start counting. I nod back, and count to three.

One... I reach for my swords, to my left, Platinum does the same thing.

Two... Antillia jumps off of the roof and onto the back of the target. The monster stops walking, and lets out an a pained filled shriek.

Three... I take in a deep breath and make a sudden change of direction. Platinum copies my every move while she's slowing down bit by bit.

A few feet in front of me, I saw the platform that Rodney was talking about. I dashed towards it as fast as I can, while at the same time, trying to avoid the possibility of being seen.

As I run, I felt the ground shake dangerously as the other buildings start to topple down like dominoes. I heard a scream come from behind me.

I stopped running...

The scream sounded again, this time louder. I quickly turned around, ignoring my instincts not to, and turned towards the beast.

He was huge, at least fifty feet tall, and had a large, masculine build. Whatever it was, it was obvious that this creature wasn't from this world. It had scales that were colored green, with a little blue that would appear every now and then. If it weren't for the head, he would have thought that this thing was some sort of dragon; however, he could tell that it was very well, not a dragon.

There were two heads. One reminded me of a french bull dog, while the other one was some sort of cyclopes. It was quiet terrifying to look at, but fear is only added when you have one staring at you. And that was what was happening right now... the beast had one of it's heads trained on me.

I couldn't tear his eyes away. I was frozen with fear. No matter what I tried to do, I just couldn't move. Every muscle in my body wanted to just turn and run, but my mind wouldn't let me. I just couldn't tear my eyes away and run.

The ground rumbled again, buildings collapsed.'_Thump.'' Thump.''Thump.' _

My terrified eyes grew even larger as the beast come towards me, quickly gaining ground with each and every step. The wind carried Antillia's and Platinum's cries to my ears. They were yelling at me, begging me to me to run, but I ignored them. I was too focused on the foot on the giant foot that was about to crush me. As I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact... I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I quickly looked over at it, but I only saw my shoulder pad. No one was there.

Looking around, I noticed that the streets were completely empty except for my teammates, the monster, and myself. From where I was, it shouldn't have bothered me so much, considering my position in this entire government run organization. But ,for some strange reason, it did. Maybe it was the fact that this was station square, my home city, that was being destroyed. Or perhaps it was the fact that I had to do this with my newly created team instead of with Sonic and the others. We always did this sort of thing together, but now everything had changed after Zero came back.

Maybe I should have payed more attention before he disappeared, or perhaps I should have considered the idea of him actually carrying through with his revenge. For some strange reason, my thoughts weren't filled with thoughts of panic, or fear. You, know how people say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die, that didn't happen to me. All I saw was the foot coming down and my acceptance.

" Chris..." a young girl's voice called to me gently.

_ Who's there? Who's calling me?_ I wondered.

" Chris." The voice sounded again, this time a little more forceful. I tried to find the person, the beast forgotten for a moment. I only saw the broken buildings, smashed cars, and bent road signs. There was no body there.

Then... all went black...

...

" Chris?... Chris! " The voice called again. Silver Bullet; A.K.A Christopher Thorndyke, looked around the realm in which he stood. He was standing in a vortex of pitch blackness. Nothing in sight. For some strange reason, Chris could only see himself. He looked around into the darkness once again, in hopes of finding the one calling him.

"Who's there?" He called out. The only answer he got was the silence he got from the spacious area. "Show yourself!" he demanded. For a few more seconds, everything was still. Then, suddenly, there was a rumbling noise. Chris took a sharp breath in, and held his breath in anticipation. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and the mysterious thing came closer, and closer.

The blackness then seemed to part away, like a curtain, revealing a beautiful girl, with ivory skin, ginger red hair, and deep blue eyes. Chris almost passed out from the shock of the sight in front of him.

"Sa...Sakura." he breathed. The girl smiled sadly at him.

" It's time to wakeup Chris. Your friends are worrying." She said sadly, giving him a pleading look.

"But... But how are you here?" he asked, completely forgetting her directions. Je couldn't process what was going on, nor what she had just said. His mind was swarming with unanswered questions. _'Why was she here? How long?_ His train of thought was quickly cut off, when he felt her place her hand on his shoulder, and shook him out of his thoughts. Her face was filled with panic.

"Chris! Listen to me! You need to wake up!" As her urgency grew, so did her voice. I was now filled with fear and worry.

"What?" Chris asked in a daze. Sakura's hands tightened on his shoulders.

" Your friend is calling you. You need to wake up now!" she repeated.

Chris looked at her in confusion. " My friends?"

" Yes. Sonic. " she said quietly. The confusion on his face only grew, as he knitted his eyebrows together in deep thought.

" Who's Sonic?" he asked. Sakura flinched at his question. She looked completely lost in Chris's eyes, and for some reason, he felt that he was the reason why. No body moved in that moment, as they stood in an awkward silence. She took a deep breath.

"Listen." she commanded. Chris opened his mouth to reply, but Sakura quickly cut him off by covering his mouth with her hand. " I said, Listen." she repeated, giving him a ' shut-up' look, which Chris quickly obliged to. At first there was that heavy silence. Nothing. Absolute quiet.

Then, a light noise sounded through the realm. At first it sounded like a light buzzing noise, but as it grew louder, it started to form words, quickly escalating into yells.

"CCHHRRRIIISSS!" The voice yelled. Chris quickly covered his ears with his hands. It was so loud! _Who is that?_ his mind asked.

As if a switch was turned on inside of his head, Chris suddenly remembered who that was.

"Sonic..." he whispered. Sakura smiled happily at Chris.

" Go to him. He's worried." she urged him on. Chris nodded, and smiled happily at her in reply. "Will I see you again?" her smiled dimmed slightly at that.

"I can't tell you for sure, but just remember. I'll always be in your heart."

Though is didn't answer his question completely, Chris took it as his answer. He then turned towards the bright light that was above him, and pushed off of the ground. He soon reached the light, and his exit out of his dream.

"SSOONNIICC" he called out. He floated into to the light, and back into the world of reality.

Chris woke up with cold sweat running down his face. He was gasping desperately for air. Heavily panting. _ A dream... it was all just a dream. There was no monster, no destroyed city, and... no Sakura. _

" Hey Chris, are you ok?" a voice came from beside him. Chris jumped about five feet into the air, and let out a surprised yelp. He felt his body go ridged as he slowly looked around to see who was talking to him.

Right next to his bed, stood none other than the great Sonic the Hedgehog himself. Chris let out a sigh of relief. Sonic looked at Chris with confusion at his reaction.

"Yeah. I'm alright now." he said quietly. "Where are we?"

That seemed to catch Sonic off guard. "In your bedroom." was all the answer that he received. Roaming the room with his eyes, Chris noticed that they were in fact, in his bedroom back at the Thorndyke mansion. When he came to the sight of his window, Chris gasped in shock. It was bright outside!"

"What time is it?"

"Around noon. You've been out since last night. Everyone was worried about you."

"We?" that also seemed to catch Sonic by surprise.

"Yeah, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and everyone else."

Chris didn't respond to what Sonic said, which caused the hedgehog to worry. The room remained silent for what felt like hours.

"Chris, are you sure your alright?" He repeated. Chris didn't move his blank gaze from the wall, just staring off into space while he answered. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you did hit your head pretty hard last night. We thought you might have caused some internal bleeding, so Tails quickly landed the X-Tornado, and did a quick check up on you. From what he could tell, you didn't have a concession, but we couldn't completely guarantee that."

Chris turned towards Sonic. "What happened last night?"

"Don't you remember?" Chris shook his head. Letting out a sigh, Sonic explained what happened.

" Well, last night, we found a chaos emerald. We went and retrieved it, but, as always, Eggman showed up and tried to snatch it from us. I didn't see what actually happened, but from what Tails said, Eggman's mechanical arm managed to snatch the gem from tail, but you grabbed into the emerald, and refused to let go. Since Eggman was so set in collecting that emerald, he dragged you up as a tag along with his machine. Once the grip released from the hand, you fell off of his hovercraft, and was sent plummeting to the ground, which, thankfully, wasn't that far down. Eggman did manage to collect the emerald, but he not for too long, because by that time, my battle was done. You could say I might of went a little overboard with the attack, but, hey, it doesn't really matter so long as nobody gets hurt right?"

"Oh..." was all he replied. Sonic just looked at him curiously.

"Why were you yelling for me to wake up?" Sonic seemed to tense up at that question.

"Well, you stopped breathing. I waited a few seconds to see you'd start again, but when you didn't, I knew I had to wake you up, so I yelled. "

Chris smiled sadly at him. "Thank you." The two sat there for a minute or two, thinking about all that had happened over the past two days.

"Chris." Chris looked over at his friend/ protector.

"Yeah?"

Sonic hesitated for a second, before proceeding. "While you were out, You kept mumbling something about having to get away. What was it that you were trying to escape from?"

Chris stiffened, once again, except this time, it was more vigorously. That peeked Sonic's interest. _ What's bothering Chris so much?_

"Did I say anything else?

"Huh?"

"While I was out. What else did I say?"

Sonic scratched the back of his head. " Well, you did mention someone's name once or twice. Also about somebody calling you. What was there name? Sakue? Sasuke? Sakura?" Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic saw Chris flinch. He raised an eyebrow.

"That name sounds about right." Chris said quietly to himself, even though he knew that the hedgehog heard him.

"So... who was she?"

" Who was who?"

"Sakura. Who was she?"

"She..." Chris sighed in defeat." She was a close friend of mine when we were little We went everywhere together; shopping, movies, playgrounds, you name it. If you ever saw one of us, the other was never too far off. We were inseparable."

"What happened to her?" All want silent. Chris turned his head, so that he was looking at the ground, as he pulled his knees, in, and wrapped his arms around them.

"S-she-" He took in a shaky breath, " She disappeared one day, without a trace. Most people Thought that she ran away, while others think that she was kidnapped."

After the night of her disappearance, everyone that we knew tried to help in anyway they could, whether it was offering comforting thoughts, or helping us search for her. The search went on for weeks. No leads. After the search, everyone just... seemed to loose all hope. The searches all stopped completely. Nobody even considered the idea of her coming home... They just... continued on with their normal lives. Like she never existed. I tried to follow their example, but, I just couldn't. Nothing ever seemed to be the same after she left. And they never were..." Tears were now welling up in Chris's eyes.

Sonic stood there, dumbfounded. He didn't know how to reply. What on earth could he have said; ' Oh, well. She lived, had a good life, grew up, then died. It was a good time while it lasted? ' That just made it sound like he didn't care, not to mention the fact that nobody knew if she even died.

So, instead of continuing on pushing for the information that he wanted to know, Sonic focused all of his attention to comforting Chris.(Who was starting to cry pretty hard now.) He placed his hand gently onto the boy's shoulder, causing him to look up. "It must be hard to deal with that. I have an idea of what your going through right now. When I came here, I had to leave several dear friends of mine behind. Not only that, but before I came here, I lost a close friend of mine." the last part was said in a low whisper.

"Does it make you sad? I mean... When you think about it?"

"Always." Sonic replied quietly."It never gets easy after you loose a loved one. All you can do is just try ti cope with it. Eventually, the pain will fade to the point where your able to deal with it."

Chris nodded sullenly. "Well, I think we should head downstairs. We don't worry the others anymore than we already have."

Sonic nodded, still letting his mind wander through his thoughts. Slowly processing what Chris had told him. He was bothered by the fact that Chris's description was so vague; not much was mentioned about who she really was or what she was to Chris. In fact, if Sonic didn't know better, he would ponder the idea of Chris actually hiding something from him. The lack of detail only supported the notion.

He didn't bother looking over at Chris as he got up, walked over to the door, and walked out into the hallway; he was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the figures of Mr. Tanaka and Chuck standing outside of the door, listening to the entire situation.

**A/N hey guys, thank for reading. This is my first Sonic-X fanfic, and I thought there are somethings you might want to make note of. 1) all characters that weren't used in the anime are all mine. 2) Names you'll want to keep note of: Sakura and possibly Rodney, though he's not too important for a while if ever. And One more name will be added that you will definitely want to remember. All the others will only be mentioned once or twice after this chapter. **


	2. Chapter 2: Parts of the Past

Chapter 2: Parts of the Past

Sonic was laying on the roof later that afternoon, resting within a light slumber.

Aside from running and thwarting Eggman's plans, this was one of Sonic's pastimes; soaking up the sun's rays. It always helped relieve the stress he was having... normally. However; this time it wasn't working, but then again, this wasn't a normal case.

In a normal situation, he would worry about the things he knew what was wrong. Things like kidnappings, chaos emeralds, the government, chili dogs, and Eggman; they were all things that he knew he could handle. Situations where he knew how to react. But this time, the problem was something he never really had to deal with, nor the experience in helping those who were being effected. He wasn't sure11 how he was suppose to react.

Chris was keeping a secret from him, which he rarely ever did before. That was all that Sonic knew. What really bothered him, was that whenever Chris was keeping a secret from them, it tended to be about something unbelievably important, in some people's opinion. Things like family problems, or secret operations he was working on, Sakura, all of those were things what Sonic would consider important.

For some reason, he didn't think this case senerio was any different.

_What could possibly bother Chris this much? I mean, he's fought against robots, aliens, anthropomorphic hedgehogs, the government, and Eggman with chaos emeralds. What on earth could terrify him even more than that?! And that girl, Sakura, why did he feel the need to cover up her real identity? Sure, it's not exactly a friendly memory to retell, but why cover up the bits and pieces that could have distinguish her from any other person? _

"UGH! All of this thinking is giving me a headache!" Sonic groaned.

"Then maybe you should stop. After all, everyone knows thinking isn't your strong suit." A gruff voice mocked behind him.

Out of reflex, Sonic jumped to his feet, and stood in a fighting position. He immediately relaxed once he saw that it was only his good friend Knuckles, the enchilda.

"Hmph. Well your the one to talk. To be honest, I forgot you even knew you had a brain inside that head of yours." Sonic taut.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Knuckles growled.

"Nothing too important."

"Was that a shot at my intelligence?! Because I'll be glad to tell you that I have above average street smarts."

"And where do those 'street smarts' come from, because where ever it is, I ant to make sure I avoid learning there." Knuckles glared at Sonic. Sonic just shrugged it off.

"So, what brings you here anyway?" Crossing his arms, Knuckles looked out towards the city.

"I came looking for Chris. Is he here?" That caught Sonic's attention.

"Depends. Why do you ask?"

"That's none of your business. Now, is Chris here or not?" No response... "Ok. I guess I'll just have to find out myself." Knuckles started to walk off, but was stopped by something that caught his shoulder. Turning around, Knuckles was surprised to see the blue hedgehog standing there, holding him back.

"Sonic! When did you... What are you..." The enchilda trailed off once he saw the serious, and slightly sullen, look on Sonic's face. "What's up?"

"Knuckles..." Sonic quietly started. He looked down at the ground.

"Yeah?"

The blue hedgehog then shot his head up, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"If you anything... off, about Chris, let me know right away."

"Off? Why? Had anything happened?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nothing too out of the ordinary as far as I know. It's just. He's been acting strangely since this morning. Frankly, I'm worried about him."

Knuckles grunted in response.

"He's a kid. It's probably just stress, or he's just tired. After all, He has a hard life for such a good kid."

Sonic nodded his head, but didn't break eye contact or change the face he was making. "Ok, but, well, just keep your eye on him. It's just weird seeing him like that, and I don't want to see him staying like this for too long."

Knuckles nodded his head, then he turned around and left. Sonic watched as Knuckles left, feeling slightly relieved knowing that someone else was willing to keep an eye on the Chris.

Though the boy did often stress out over things that seemed to be pointless sometimes, it was never to this extent. Even if he had something important going on the next morning. He always acted like nothing ever really bothered him, when it same to personal problems. He didn't even seem to mind the fact that most of his days were spent on life or death situations and world epidemics since they came along.

Now that he thought about it, Sonic realized that because of the arrival of him and his friends, Chris missed out on a lot of childhood experiences. Most of which would better him for the real world. Instead, he had to deal with deadly situations that would make any adult pee their pants if they ever placed in that much stress. '_There's that word again.' _Sonic thought.

However, dealing with danger and having all of that courage the boy had wasn't what impressed Sonic the most. No, it was the fact that even if he did live through those moments, he still found time in his life to worry about everyone else around him before even considering how he was. _'I always wonder how he's able to do it. I spend my days saving people from danger, and yet I still can't compare to how much compassion Chris has for others, nor the ability to think about them first before myself sometimes.' _

Shaking his head clear, Sonic turned around and walked backed to the spot he was sitting before the enchilda arrived. He layed down on the roof, and within 10 minutes, he found himself drifting off to sleep.

**_SONIC'S DREAM_**

_'Ugh why does my head hurt so much?' _Sitting up, I rubbed my head, trying to reduce hearing the 'thumping' sound in my ears. _'Well what ever I've been doing, it must have been pretty fun.'_

Opening his eyes, Sonic noticed that he was standing in the middle of a dark hallway. "Huh? Where am I." looking left, and then right, Sonic noticed that there there several doors, that were all decorated similarly with the same design. Each of the door frames were decorated with rose vines, displaying quiet clearly the sharp thorns. Each corner of the frame held a group of roses that seemed to be blooming with the time of day. To the left of each door were room numbers. Like they would do in motels and hotels. The walls were all painted with a royal blue paint and also had designs of roses on them, just painted with white paint at the top of the walls.

As I wondered around, I noticed that at the end of every hall way was the exact same thing; a very large, heavy framed picture that stood about a table that help two vases of white roses on each side of the picture. Not only that, but every picture all looked similar, but not completely alike. They all had the exact same background, but each one had a fuzzy picture of a person, but you couldn't make any clear picture of who they were. As I wondered up to the table, I also noticed that each vase held a dozen roses, and along the table, there were metal plates that had something written on them.

"Holly Catfill." I read aloud. _Must be the person's name._ Looking up at the picture, I noticed that the person had, what looked like, long blond hair. The next picture, the table read 'Bill Rayhala' and the picture looked like a well built man with dark hair. Others read only of some first name, such as Helen, Marry, Margret, Ryan, Mike, and Ben. These ones were a little more off putting, because you would only be able to make out whether they were girls or boys, and that was it.

I felt something sinister behind me, making my skin crawl. I was being watched. Taking a minute, I looked around, surveying the building, but saw nothing and no one. I felt my instincts kick in. Slowly, and cautiously, I walked down the corridors again, but this time with the feeling of something breathing down my neck. No mattered what I tired to do, it wouldn't go away.

A rattling noise sounded through the building. Quickly, I whirled around, expecting to see something, but... nothing was there. However; something had changed. The picture, roses, and table all were there, but two of them have changed. There was a third rose bouquet resting in the middle of the other two. This one was blue. Not only that, but the picture which previously held the picture of a person, was now plank of and being existing there. Just the background.

I walked up, and examined the strange change. I looked at the blue roses, and noticed a not stuck in the middle of the thorns. Slowly, I reached into the flowers, and attempted to pull the note out. That didn't work out as nicely as I hoped it would.

The first couple of attempts failed, because I kept prickling myself on the thorns. On the third attempt, I finally grabbed the slip of paper. At first I thought '_Lucky Me!'_ however, upon the grabbing the note, I accidentally moved my hand too fast, and ended up not only cutting myself on the thorns, but also giving myself a paper cut.

_'AW! Come on.' _were my thoughts, I'm pretty sure. I took the small parchment out, slowly so that I don't cut myself again, and undid the ribbon that held the note shut. The note was written in neat script writing that read:

"_To have and to hold, or is what I have foretold._

_To keep your friends near, or let them fall to tears._

_A picture can hold a thousand words, is what you've heard,_

_But, they can hold so much more. All you need to do, _

_Is know what to look for..."_

"...What's that suppose to mean?" I said to myself, after reading through the puzzle. "Maybe there's a part I'm missing." Turning my attention to the table, I nearly fell over in shock. The vase was missing!

I rubbed my eyes. Yep, it was missing. I looked under the table, down the all, and all around me... still nothing. Sighing, I decided to forget about the vase, and try to collect more information from this place. Looking down at the table, I was surprised once again about what I saw. There, on the table was written the name of one of my closest friends... 'Christopher Thorndyke." My head shot to the picture. Slowly, a shape began to form in the middle of the frame. Something with read hair, a shorter build, and his closest friend.

"Guess I better find a way out of here." Turning around the back I came, I dashed off to find the exit, only to stop abruptly three steps in. In front of me stood a large set of double doors, also decorated with roses. I let my jaw fall open.

_On on earth could I not see that! It's not like the walls can move on their own... right? _ I dashed for the doors. Running at light speed, I crashed through the doors and into a blinding bright light. There was only light for what seemed like hours, but finally, I heard a voice calling out to me. "Sonic! Come on, now Sonic! It's time to wake up."

Slowly, cracking my eyes open, I saw Tails standing over me, smiling happily.

"Hmm? What's up buddy?" I asked while sitting up.

"Nothing really, Ella finished making dinner, so I thought I'd tell you." I flashed him a grin and winked at him. "Ok, I'll be down in a flash."

Tails smile widened slightly as he nodded. "Ok." He turned to leave but paused a minute, before turning back. Almost as if he had forgotten something. His smile faded.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. By any chance have you seen Chris recently? I haven't seen him since he dashed out suddenly. I wanted to ask him about that."

"Not since lunch. Did you try the others?"

"Yeah, none of them have seen him for the past couple of hours. I guess he went out to play with Helen and the others. No problem, I'll just wait for him to get home."

I nodded in response, but my thoughts drifted off the the strange way he was acting today. '_He's probably just stressing out.' _Knuckles words rang over and over in my head. "Yeah.." I said quietly to myself.

Getting up, I started for the house, only to be stopped by a small piece of paper underneath my foot.

Picking it up, I noticed a small ribbon that was tied to it. Getting curious, U opened the letter and read it through.

**"****_To have and to hold, or is what I have foretold..."_**

_It wasn't possible, this couldn't be the same note..._

**_To keep your friends near, or let them fall to tears._**

_But... the words are the same! There's no mistake! This is the note..._

**_A picture can hold a thousand words, is what you've heard,_**

_... from my dream..._

**_But, they can hold so much more. All you need to do, _**

**_Is know what to look for..."_**

_...This can't be good. _


	3. The present is a gift

Chapter 3:

** The Present is a Gift Ok, so I'm going to apologize ahead of time; This chapter isn't as well written (in my opinion) as the other two, so if there are any troubles reading it, I'm sorry. I'm not the best at Knuckles POV, But if you have any suggestions, I am more then welcome to hear them. Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or any of it's characters. Enjoy :) d **

(Knuckles POV)

Something isn't right. It summer time, and yet I'm shivering. Everything felt cold to the touch, and the plants almost seemed like they were wilting. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the master emerald standing as it always does, wrapped in mystery. " I know your there! Now come out!" Nothing. Only hollowed looking trees stood in front of me.

" Who are you?" I yelled out. Only the silence answered.

" Show yourself!" There was a rustle in the bushes. Slowly, a dark figure rose from the bushes. The temperature seemed to drop ten fold, and fog began to form around me. My arms clenched on either side of me. Who ever this was, he wasn't welcomed here. Evil, thats the word to describe him. Evil, and powerful.

The thing in front of me took a step forward, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. The creature kept pressing forward, walking slowly, but not slow enough for me. "Who are you, and what is your business here?" The creature stopped for a second at the border line of the forest, still keeping my face covered by the shadows. "Don't make me ask you again." I barked. The figure seemed to laugh at what I said as it walked past the shadows. It looked straight up at me. I gasped.

The monster was none other than ... Chris? I had to be seeing things. That thing couldn't possibly be who I think it is!

"Huh? Oh hey Knuckles! Just thought I'd drop by and say hi." He didn't even bother to look at me. Since when does Chris just drop by like this anyway?

Skeptically, I replied. "It's nice to see you... to... uh, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here? Don't you usually spend your free time with Sonic?"

Chris tensed up instantly, and he made a face when he thought I wasn't looking.

"Well... you see..." He let his eyes darted away from mine as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "he-he uh, went out for the day. Said he wanted to go sight seeing or something like that. And since I was close by, I figured I'd come pay you a visit."

"How nice of you." I turned back, with a grunt, then made my way back to the emerald.

Chris just stood there, for a few seconds, then turned and stalked off back to the forest.

"Where are you going?" He turned around around slowly, then gave me the most terrifying and off putting smirk I'd ever seen. Shivers ran down my spine.

"I told you. I only stopped by to say hi."

"But normally you would-" before I could finish, Chris was already making his way into the woods. "Wait a minute! Come back here!"

I dashed after Chris. What is going on? Chris always spends time talking, or rather annoying me, for at least an hour before he takes off.

Entering the forest, I noticed that there wasn't any trace of the boy. "Chris? Are you out there?" Nothing. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to just drop the matter. " Well, if it was anything important, he would have told me."

Laying down next to the master emerald, I allowed my mind to wonder off to what just happened.

There was something wrong about Chris. Ya, he looked fine physically, but that was it. His was of speaking, the way he suddenly disappeared, that's nothing like the Chris he knew. The Chris he knew would always spend time to talk with everyone, regardless of his reason of even being there. And that smirk, all I could feel was complete evil. Normally when Chris would smile, I would feel a warm fuzzy feeling. Almost like what you would feel when you see a family reunion, but that look, all I felt was ice. It was so cold... He seems like a completely different person!

Bzzzzz... Bzzzzzzz

"Huh? What's that?" I looked over, and noticed something green glowing beside me. "Mater Emerald! What's wrong?!"

The light slowly progressed into a large glow that grew brighter wither every second. I grunted and covered my eyes as I was finally engulfed by the light.

When the light cleared, I found myself in a scene from the past. I was standing at the top of the temple, but there was no sign of or the other enchida around. Instead I see Chris and Chris.

..._ Wait a minute. Why are there two Chris's? Does he have a twin brother that I don't know about?_

From the top of the temple, I saw a younger version of Chris, who didn't even look even ten years old yet, standing off against his look alike. He was some sort of black ninja suit with a matching head band. In each hand, he had two unusual looking swords. The blades were made of some sort of black metal, bit what really caught his attention was the green lines that seemed to run through it, giving it a high tech look. He held a sword in each hand with a white knuckle grip. In his ear was a wireless radio, which he seemed to be talking into at the moment. His face was batter, bruised, and covered in scratched. His breaths were coming out in heavy gasps.

"We told you to leave peacefully. Now, we have no other choice." Chris rose one blade of his blades, and gave a death glare to the man in front of him. " I, agent Silver Bullet, A.K.A Christopher Throndyke, use the power that has been invested in me to sentence you to death. Now Zero, do you have any last words you'd like to share?"

The dopple-ganger laughed darkly to himself. "And what, may I ask, have I done to deserve this?"

"You know very well what you've done. You're selfish will not only cost us several precious lives, but it also placed our entire universe it's very existence."

I stood there, stunned. Is this truly possible that the young boy in front of him, could be the same little boy he's met only a few months ago?

A low voice roared out, "You will pay dearly for your interference boy! Just you wait! I'll destroy you, and then the worlds you so willingly protect!"

Looking over, I saw the look-a-like starting to transform. Before I had a chance to see what happened next, I was engulfed once again in a blinding light. "AARRGGHHH!" a pained voice yelled out. A second later, I heard the sound of something large hitting the ground.

"CHRISS!" I called out, but I was already back in my own time.

"Wha-what was that? Master emerald, what did you want to show me?"

The master emerald had ceased it's glowing, and it remained silent.

"Looks like I need to pay Chris a visit. I need some answers." _'_

_Something big is going on, and Chris is somehow apart of it.'_ ===========================================================================

(Knuckles POV)

After running for what seemed like forever, I finally reached Chris's house. I that odds were, Chris would be home, but there was still the possibility of someone else being there, not that it really matter to him. When I heard a certain blue hedgehog's voice, I figured I might as well attempt common curtesy.

"Ugh, all this thinking is giving me a head ache!" Knuckles couldn't help himself. He just had to add in my own comment. When Sonic bolted up, I has to struggle to keep a straight face. Sonic the hedgehog a hero? Yeah right! At the moment, the only thing I could consider him, is a baboon.

"... To be honest, I forgot that you had a brain..."

OK, now THAT was for! We ended up bantering which helped me relax a little bit. I almost forgot about what happened until Sonic had to ask.

"So, what brings you here anyway?" '_And there goes the moment.'_

Looking out at the city, I answered.

"I'm looking for Chris. Is he here?"

"Depends. Why do you ask?"

"That's none of your business." _'It's not even mine really._" "Now is Chris here or not?"

When Sonic didn't answer, I decided that I waisted enough time.

"Ok. I guess I'll just have to find out for myself."

I turned to leave, but was surprised when Sonic stopped me. I was about to snap at him, but one look at his face was enough to shut me up.

"Knuckles?" he started.

"Yeah?" I tried to focus on what he was saying, but my mind couldn't comprehend what he was saying. But the minute I heard Chris's name mentioned, my mind seemed to snap back into place.

"... Chris has been acting strangely since this morning. Frankly, I'm worried about him."

My mind flashed back to the image of Chris's cold smirk, then the images from the past..._ 'is it possible that he did come today?'_ Even if he deserved it, I couldn't bring myself to to worry Sonic even more than he already was. Instead, I just stretched the truth a little bit

"He's a kid. I figure he's just tired, possibly stressed. After all, he has he has a hard life for such a good kid." When I said 'good' kid, I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince Sonic, or myself.

His eyes never left min, which gave me the perfect view of the inner turmoil he was going through. Who'd have thought that Sonic could have so many emotions at once?

"Ok, but can you keep an eye on him?"

_'You can count on that_' I nodded. After I got off the roof, I realized that he never answered my question. "So much for common curtesy." I mumbled.

I walked into the house, to see it seemingly empty.

"Hello, is anyone home?"

"Who is it?" I heard a feminine voice call out.

"Ella? It's me Knuckles."

"Ohh! Knuckles. So what brings you here?"

" I''m looking for Chris. Is he here."

"He's up in his room."

"Ok, thank you." I walked up the stairs, and down the hallway, until I found Chris's room. When I walked in, I saw Chris sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. He seemed to be like some sort of lost child.

"Chris." I greeted, snapping him out of his trance.

"huh? Oh, hey Knuckles." He said, with a noticeably forced smile on his face. "What brings you here?"

"We need to talk." Chris stared confusingly at me.

"...Ok? Do you want me to get the others?"

"No, at the moment this only concerns you and me." Chris tensed up, but nodded in understanding.

"OK... so what is it?"

"Did you visit the master emerald at all today?" Chris shook his head.

"No, I only woke up about an hour or two ago, and since then I haven't left the house. You can ask anyone. I've been home all day"


	4. Pieces of the Present

**Hey guys here's the next chapter. And I have now decided that I will update monthly, or for special occasions. ****Hope you guys will keep enjoying it :), and a special thanks to all those who gave me reviews. It's people like you guys whom I enjoy writing fafnics for. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic nor any of it's characters**

**enjoy :)**

(Chris's POV)

"Chris, did you visit the master emerald, at all, today?" Knuckles asked. 'Doesn't he guard the master emerald? Shouldn't he know who comes and goes throughout the day?'

Shaking my head, I answered.

"No, I just woke up about an hour ago. I've barely even eaten lunch. If you don't believe me, you can just ask Sonic, or anyone else for that matter. They'll all say the same. "

Knuckles eyes narrowed "suspiciously at me, the way a detectives would when they would find a new piece of crucial evidence.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Why are you asking? Shouldn't you know this already?"

Knuckles seemed a little uncomfortable. His eyes quickly darted to the window, but quickly adjusted themselves back on me.

"Well, earlier today, I saw somebody that looked a lot like you. We talked for a little bit, but he seemed kind of in a hurry to get out of there. Before I had a chance to really ask him anything, he ran off. So I'm going to ask you one more time; have you seen the master emerald at all today?"

"No.I have not."

His gaze lingered on me for what felt like forever, pointing what felt like knives towards me, until finally he nodded.

"Ok, if you're sure." Along silence held onto the air, neither of the two boys saying anything. Looking out the window, sorting out what they were planning on doing. Should they wait for the person to come out again? Or should they flush him out themselves? Is there a chance that he's...

"Was there anything... off about him?" I bursted out suddenly.

"Huh?"

"The boy you saw, was there anything strange about him?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, he did seem a little... creepy."

"Creepy? How?"

"Well, he had this thing about him. It's hard to explain, but when I first saw him, I felt somewhat anxious when I noticed him. The hairs on the back of my neck were on end. It's not really something that normally happens. That's why I wanted to make sure it wasn't you."

I nodded, then I let my gaze wander to the wall in deep thought. Someone who looked a lot like me, had a very 'creepy' aurora, and is someone who clearly knows their way around. But on the other hand, they need to know me at least a little bit if they wanted to get Knuckles to think they were me. Who could possibly fit that description?

Without another word Knuckles left, leaving me to my thoughts. I knew several of the kids who lived inside this town, and as far as I'm aware, none of them looked like me, even remotely.

Catching my chin between my fingers, I started to think even harder about who could look like me. Couldn't be anyone from school, Knuckles would recognize their face. Even with his little thickheadedness. Maybe they were visitors to town? That also wasn't really a very good possibility. For one, they seemed to know Knuckles a little too much then they should from TV. And that's not even considering the fact that 1) they had an idea about how I acted around Sonic and the others, and 2) They knew where the master emerald was.

So if that crosses out those possibilities, then the only explanation is that-

' Beep. Beeep. Beep' I felt the vibration of something in my pocket. Reaching down, I pulled out my cell phone. Flipping it open, I saw the message that was written across the screen.

And in that moment, all my world came crashing down. All it took was two words. Two measly words that destroyed all the feeling of happiness that I ever felt. With the blood draining from my face, and shaking hands, I slowly placed the phone back in my pocket. 'I-it's not possible!'

Slowly, I felt my blood beginning to boil. 'If this message is true, then-'

I ran out of my room, down the halls and into the streets. The message playing over and over again in my mind.

[He's back,]

(Chris's POV)

Chris ran out of his house as fast as his legs could carry him, weaving his way through people, running into then and at one point he almost got hit by a car. Lucky for him they weren't going that fast.

"Sorry!" he yelled over his shoulder, but he still didn't stop running. Down through dark alley ways, though busy streets, and long roads. Once he hit a desert, he ran for another ten minutes before he stopped. He looked around to see if there was anyone else around.

He quickly snatched his cell phone out of his pocket, and flipped it open,all in one fluent move. He pressed a button and waited for a number to be dialed. the phone buzzed once, twice then the line went silent.

"Calling area: 6. 4.7. 12. 18. 1. come in." There was a static filled moment, and then a woman's voice came through.

"Area: .18.1. Roger, who is this?"

"This is agent Silver Bullet. Over"

There was a brief silence, then a little bit of shuffling papers was heard on the other side of the line.

"Roger that. Please wait while I transfer your call."

I waited for a few minutes until I heard a familiar voice come through the speaker.

"Hey! Chris buddy! What do I owe the pleasure for this little chat?"

"Is it true?!" Chris asked urgently, not bothering to even say hello. There was complete silence between the two. "I said, is it true?! ... Rodney?!"

*Sigh.* That was all he needed to hear. He knew the answer, but he waited for Rodney to reply anyway.

"Ya. It's true." Complete silence. No animal moved, nor insect buzzed.1Not even the wind dared to sound. Chris hung his head in shame and anger, his body quivering from exhaustion and emotional strain.

'It't my fault. He's only alive because I didn't have the guts to kill him. And because of me, he'll not only destroy my world, He'll try to take over Sonic's as well... just like the others.

He felt his hands clench with white fists, his jaw clenching down, and his face scowling in anger. "It's all my fault." Chris muttered.

"Chris, it's nobody's fa-" Rodney comforted.

"It's all my Damn fault! I didn't have the nerve to kill him... I'm too weak."

"Chris, It's. not. your. -"

'Click' Chris closed the phone and brought his hand back and prepared to throw it, however before he thru the object, he caught himself and stopped his arching motion.

He suddenly felt very tiered. Exhausted in fact, as he felt his knees buckle underneath him. As he collapsed to the ground, he finally was able to hear the city behind him. From the sound of all the bustling and beeping he guessed it was around five in the afternoon. He looked towards the position of the sun and realized he was right.

He let out a sigh. " guess I should be heading back." he muttered as he got back up on his feet. He only got a few passes in before the ground started to shake uncontrollably . At first he was completely oblivious, do to the fact that he was still exhausted, but with in a few seconds of the trembling , he found himself struggling to keep his footing. He was stumbling back and forth. To and froe.

"W-Whats going on!?" Chris exclaimed. The tumbling increased drastically, finally managing to throw Chris off his feet, and face first into the ground.

Chris tried desperately to get up, yet he couldn't gain his balance. The sand underneath his feet began to shift and pulled Chris down, slowly sinking him into it's deadly trap.

"HELP!" he screamed. Yet, nobody was able to hear him. After all, who in their right min would travel out into the middle of the desert, with no safety provisions or water by themselves? Well, apparently Chris would.

Finding his struggles useless, Chris gave up the attempt, letting himself be pulled under. 'This is it. This is the end. I'm going to die out here in the middle of nowhere. Where no one will find me. It's not the way I've pictured the end, but, oh well. Looks like fate had other plans for me.' His head was now covered. He couldn't breath, and his vision started to fade out when suddenly, a large gust of wind bursted over his head. It was like a jet was landing, but that wasn't possible. Right?

The quickly flew off his head. Once again, it seemed that fate was still on his side, for when he opened his eyes, there was a large ship that was not even 30 yards away. He gulped the air in not being able to get enough. He coughed roughly.

"My. who we have here. A little bird who'd flown a little too far from home." Said a very bubbly, mechanically familiar voice that Chris knew all too well. Looking up, he he saw the silhouette of something, or rather, someone, that had a very round belly, skinny legs, a very long and bushy mustache. On each side of him stood what looked like two people, but Chris knew all to well who they really were.

"Eggman..." he said in a husky voice, due to the fact that sand managed to get itself into his mouth when he trapped underneath it. He tried to stand on steady, but his legs could no longer hold him and he collapsed onto his side in exhaustion, panting slightly.

Eggman studied the boy for a moment, scheming his next plan.

"Doctor, are you going to just leave the boy here?" Boccoe asked.

"You can't do that! He's just a kid!" Doccoe added.

"Please Doctor you can't abandon him!"

"He needs help, and we're not the type of people to-"

"Quiet! You two buffoons!" Eggman shouted at him. He then looked at the robots expectantly. "Well don't just stand there, Take him to the ship!"

Both Boccoe and Doccoe leaped into action, crying "Thank you Doctor." Repeatedly (In many different ways.) Boccoe lifted Chris by his arms and Doccoe lifted him up by his feet. And they weren't gently carrying him by any means.

Chris tried to tear himself from their grip, but it was of no use. He was just too exhausted. He soon gave up, and let them carry him to their base. The last thing Chris said before he passed out was one name. "Sonic ..." and all want black.


	5. The future's been foretold

Chapter 5: The future's been foretold

(SonicPOV (3rd person))

Dusk had finally set in, and there was still no sign of Chris. The Thorndyke mansion was now filled with worried souls who were trying to find a reasonable explanation for where the boy was.

"Chris still hasn't come beck yet. Do you think something happened to him?" asked a very worried Cream. 'Chow' Chow' added Cheese.

"I'm sure he's fine." comforted Amy, " He probably just lost track of time. He should be back any moment."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, Just you wait. He'll be at the any minute now." and as if on cue, there was a loud ring from the door bell. "See. What did I tell you?" Amy walked over to the door and opened it to revel Sonic standing there, a questioning look on his face.

" Did Chris come back?" he asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

" Didn't you find him?" asked Amy.

Sonic shook his head, and gave a disappointed look: no luck.

Everyone let out a breath of disappointment.

"I hope he's alright. Chris has never been out this late without telling anyone." Ella stated, bringing her hand and rested it on her cheek. This became a habit of her's over the years of working for the Thorndykes, most of the time she would only do it when she was concerned or worried, such as now.

"Where could he have gone? It's not like he could just disappear!" Amy added

"Well there is a chance that he... No, he couldn't have. He hasn't been there for years..." everyone's head turned to the scientist sitting on the couch, face scowled up in contemplation. " It's very unusual, he hasn't done this type of thing since he was..." The expression in the room were all over the place. Sonic and Tails both looked rather curious, while Mr. Tanaka and Ella both looked down with emotional expressions in their faces. Amy tried her best to coax Cream and Cheese, who were oblivious to what was going on, to bed.

"What is it Chuck," Tails pipped up.

"Just this whole Chris thing, it's reminds me of things he did when he was younger. Staying out really late without telling anyone, sometimes for days at a time. We were always worried sick, course he always turned up in the end." That certainly caught everyone's attention.

"Really?!" asked Cream. Chuck nodded his head.

" The reasons tend to vary, but most of the time it was intentional. Whenever he did this, it's pointless to look. We won't be able to find him. He's just to experience with this."

He looked at everyone's expressions, which were now filled with shock. They didn't seem to believe what they were hearing. Just abandon the search for Chris? What if he got hurt? The first one to speak out against the idea was Tails.

"He's gotta be around here somewhere. We just haven't been looking in the right places." he said in determination.

"You got that right buddy. I'll search the entire earth before I even stop to rest. Chris is out there, and I'm gonna find him."

The other morbians nodded in agreement.

"We're not gonna abandon Chris just like that. He's out friend after all, and if anyone tries to hurt him," Amy pulled out her large mallet from out of nowhere," Then their gonna have to deal with me."

"That's right!" 'Chow''Chow'

For a moment, Chuck seemed stunned. Sighing, he let a small smile grace his lips." Well if you insist, then go ahead, just make sure to get back by morning."

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a flash." Sonic said, running out the door.

"Sonic wait! We don't even know where he could be!" Tails yelled after him.

"Huh?" Sonic skidded his feet to a stop, then ran back to the rest of the group. Scratching his head sheepishly.

"Soooo, did anyone seem him before he left?" all heads turned to Chuck.

Chuck sighed and shook his head." Sorry, but I won't be of much help here. I never could figure out where he would go off to, no matter how hard I tried."

"I only saw him when he came down for lunch." Tails said.

" Same here." added Amy

Cream and Cheese nodded.

" Hmmm. Now that you mention it, Knuckles did drop by sometime after lunch. He told me that he was looking for Chris. Said he wanted to ask him something."

"Really? What?"

" I'm not sure He told me it was none of my business. But whatever it was, he seemed pretty worked up about it. "

"Ok, then lets go ask Knuckles. He might have an idea where Chris went." The others muttered their agreement.

Sonic took off towards the X-Tornado, with Tails and the others not far behind.

" I'll meet you guys there." Sonic called out over his shoulder. He then sped up, with his usual blue light trailing behind him. He dashed down the streets, which were surprisingly empty, and to Angel Island.

'_Just hang on Chris. I'm coming" _

(Sonic POV)

'Where could Chris have gone?' were my thoughts as I ran down the streets. In front of me stood Angle Island, not even a mile away. I picked up my speed to the point that it felt like I was running on air, which I probably was.

It wasn't even a second before I found myself standing at the base of an old, large temple. It was covered in vines, dirt, and old hieroglyphics. The steps were carved out of the stone, which lead to the most important treasure of all time. The master emerald. I walked up the steps being careful not to disturb the resting creature that laid in front of said emerald.

I looked at the enchilda, and was surprised when I saw that he wasn't sleeping at all. He actually seemed lost in thought. His eyes were wide open, but were clouded over, almost as if he was lost in thought.

"Hey Knuckles!" I yelled in his ear. Knuckles fist sprang forward, right at my face. I most back so fast, that I almost toppled over down the steps. Knuckles quickly jumped up on his feet, and got ready to pounce.

"Who's there?" he asked

I sat cross-legged, with his arms folded across my chest.

"Hi Knuckles. It's goos to see you to."

"Sonic?" Knuckles blinked for a moment.

"Yep, the one and only." I said, standing up onto his feet, giving Knuckles a thumbs up and winking.

"What are you doing here?" he asked a little more seriously.

"What? A guys can't come by and say hi every now and then?"

"Not if that guy's you. Especially if the last person who came by to say 'Hi' was-"

Knuckles was cut off by the sound of the X-Tornado landing. Turning around, I noticed Cream, Cheese, Tails and Amy all climbing out, and running towards us.

"Amy? Tail? Cream?"

" Hiya Knuckles." He gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged it off. Sighing, he looked back at me.

"As I was saying, what exactly are you doing here?" Knuckles asked again.

I shrugged, to make the question not seem as desperate as it actually was. " Well, Chris has't come home today. Normally we wouldn't be bothering you about this, but you were the last one to see him. We just wanted to ask if you have any idea where he went."

" So your saying that you lost Chris?"

" Well, not exactly-"

" Then why are you asking me if I knew where he was?"

" I just wanted to see if you knew."

" Sorry, but I can't help you with your search. At the moment, I have things more important to do."

" What guarding that giant rock of yours?"

That certainly hit a cord.

" What are you calling a giant rock?! For your information, that is the master emerald your talking about!"

I just rolled my eyes at him and started to say something, but before I could get a single word out, Amy spoke up.

" Are you sure you haven't seen Chris since then?" Knuckles nodded. Everybody's faces sagged in disappointment.

" Did he seem to be acting strange before he left?" Tails asked.

"Strange? Strange how?"

" Anything that he wouldn't normally do. Staring off into space, acting suspicious, trying to avoid eye contact, things like that. "

Knuckles brought one of his hands to his chin as he lost himself in thought.

" Now that you mentioned it..."

I felt my adrenaline building up inside of me with each new piece of information.

"Ya?" I urged him on.

" He did seem out of it. When I want to see him, he was starring at the wall. I might not know Chris too well, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't do that on a normal basis. And when I tried to ask him a question, he seemed to keep forgetting that I was even there. Almost like he was in a trance."

I raised an eyebrow at that._ In a trance? Why didn't Knuckles tell me this earlier? _

**_'Kaboom!' _**I felt the ground rumble underneath me.

" W-what's going on?" I cried. My gaze automatically turned towards the city. There was smoke coming out of the center of the city, and alarms were going off from the police cards and fire trucks. " Now what?!"

I raced off towards the city, fully expecting to see Eggman and his robots like normal, but what I saw was enough to cause anybody to stop dead in their track.

In front of me stood Chris, facing one on one against one of Eggman's robot. He was dressed in a dark black combat suit with two katanas that I've never seen. Along with that, he wore a thin black bandanna that flowed freely behind his head, and a leather belt that held what seemed to be some sort of bomb and ... a chaos emerald?! Am I seeing things right?!

Chris was panting lightly as he was putting his blades back into their scabbards (which were forming an X shape across his back) and turned his back on the robot. Just as he was taking a step away, the robot took a step towards Chris, aiming it's gun at him.

"Chris!" I shouted, taking a step before him, but that was all I was able to take. Just one step, before it all happened.

**_'Kaboom!' _**rang one of the loudest blasts I've ever heard. Smoke filled the battle ground as the round of metal clanking together filled my ears.

"Chris!" I yelled again as I ran into the smoke blindly. The first thing I did was search for Chris. I dashed right, then left, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

"Chris, can you hear me?" I called out again. But he didn't answer.

As the fog started to clear, the Silhouette of a person began to form.

"Chris is that you?" I asked again. This time I was met with an answer.

"S-s-sonic?" He stuttered, apparently dramatized from the near death experience. I dashed over to him, and checked him for injuries. I felt his shoulder tense under my touch, but that was it. There weren't any wounds. Not even the slightest of scratches.

"Are you ok? What were you thinking about facing Eggman's robot like that?! You could have been hurt!" I scolded. Chris flinched, but didn't try to say anything.

"What are you even doing here?" I asked a little softer. Chris just looked down at me.

" I could ask you the same thing." _What?_

" What do you mean?"

" What are you doing here so early? I thought it would take a few more minutes before you got here."

_Ok, now I'm completely lost. What is Chris talking about? _

" Take me a few more minutes? What are you talking about? It doesn't even take me five minutes to reach the ocean, so why should it take me so long to read station square?" Chris just shrugged.

" I just wanted to surprise you."

" Well, you certainly gave me a surprise, not the good kind, but a big one. I've got to admit, your pretty brave for someone your age. But next time,can you try to do something more rational?"

Chris was about to say something else, but was stopped by the clank of metal falling to the ground. I turned around and almost fell over from what I saw. The robot that Chris was fighting earlier was laying as a large heap of scrap metal right in front of us.

Wide-eyed, I turned my gaze to the boy, who seemed to be smirking with pleasure at what he's done. Slowly, I felt a smirk of my own spread appear.

" Come on Chris. " I gestured for Chris to follow me as I stalked off towards the house, but when I turned around, I saw that Chris hadn't even bothered to move from his spot. "Chris?"

Still, he didn't move.

"I'm sorry Sonic..." _What? Why is he Sorry?_

"What do you mean 'sorry'? you didn't do anything wrong."

Chris bowed his head in shame. His shoulders sagged.

"I'm not going home. Not yet at least."

" What do you mean buddy? Did you hit your head or something?"

Chris started to walk off, but before he was out of his view, he looked over his shoulder and said one more thing I never thought I'd hear. "Good-bye Sonic. and please, tell the others that I'll miss them." A lone tear made it's way across his face as the boy started to turn around and walk off. I blinked, letting the information sink in. _Chris... is leaving?_

"Chris, where are you-" but he wasn't there. Within a blink of an eye, he was gone. Vanished. Disappeared, without a trace. All that was left behind was a folded up paper.

I walked up to it, and picked it up. After I unfolded the paper, I immediately let it fall to the ground. My hands were trembling, and my jaw clenched. I must be looking over something, Chris would never do something like this, right? Then why...

" Why would you do this to us?" I growled lowly to myself.

"Sonic?" I heard a shy voice call out to me. Turning around, I saw the others running up to me, puzzled.

I didn't bother looking down at the girl as I walked off. Now wasn't the time for questions.

"Sonic?! Where are you going?" Amy cried. I still said nothing.

A strong hand found it's way onto my shoulder, preventing me from walking any further. " Someone just asked you a question. It'd be wise to answer it." a gruff voice advised.

"Let go of me, Knuckles."

"Or what?"

I tried once again to walk forward, but he wouldn't have it. " Sonic, what in the world has gotten into you?" My patients was running thin.

"It's none of your business, now let go of me." I tried one last time to go forward, but before I could even get a full step in, Knuckles took a step in front of me, and pushed me back a few feet. I glared daggers at him.

" You wanna go?"

Knuckles seemed to be at his ropes end as well.

" If it'll knock some sense into you,then I'm all for it." He charged straight at me, fists ready for punching. It quickly side-stepped and landed a perfect round house kick at his rib cage. The wind was knocked right out of the enchilda as he coughed harshly for a few seconds.

" Had enough?" I taunted. Knuckles forced himself onto his feet, coughed, then smirked at me.

" You're kidding right? I'm just warming up." once again, he took a fighting stance.

"Hmph." I smirked and got ready to charge.

We ran, yelling out our battle cries as we clash and collided. In the background, I thought I head Cream and Amy cry for us to stop, but I was too busy to take any real notice. Right hook, left hook, uppercut, round house, side kick. I threw out move after move, blocking once in a while.

We jumped back from each other, needing the break to catch a quick breath. By not I was panting heavily. So was Knuckles.

"Next attacks decided the winner?" Knuckles grunted in reply.

We charged at each other once again, preparing ourselves for the final blow, when I suddenly feel something hard collide with my head.

" What on earth is wrong with you two?! Look at what your doing! Fighting here won't bring us any closer to finding Chris!"

_Chris... _I felt my self quiver in grief at the name. The one who... who...

I let my face drop to the ground, using the shadows to cover my face.

" There's no need for that, I've already found him."

Amy's face lit up. "Great! Let hurry up and get him."

" I'm not so sure you'll want to do that... You might not even want to associate yourselves with him after you find out what he was about to do." Everyone seemed to glare at me. I could feel it.

"What do you mean? Chris is our friend. He wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

'chew''chew'.

"Chris. is. a. traitor." _There I said it._

"Sonic!" Amy screeched."After all he's done for us! Why one earth would you call him a traitor?!"

"Because that's what he is!" I snapped back.

"Why do you say that?" Tails cautiously asked.

I picked up the note and handed it to him. " It's all in here." Tails read over the note, and let out a small gasp.

"T-th-these are." I nodded at him.

"B-But the isn't like Chris! Maybe he has a good reason for doing this."

" And, what Tails could he have been doing with these blue prints with that letter?" Tails hesitated.

" What is it Tails?" Amy asked.

" These are the blue prints of the X-Tornado and Sonic's power rings. Why would Chris..."

" I already told told you. He's a traitor. Want more truth? Look at the note attached."

With shaky hands, Tails reached for the small piece of paper, and read through it.

**_Dear Eggman, _**

**_ I've brought these blue prints as a sign of allegiance to you. I'm willing to aid you in you goal to build your magnificent empire. I have all the insight you need. All you need to do it prove yourself and provide a place of easy communication, and equipment. Please reply by midnight. _**

**_ Your's truly,_**

**_ Chris Thorndyke. _**

"I-it can't be him. Chris would never." But Tails gave up the futile attempt. Everyone bowed their heads in defeat. Everyone except Knuckles were greatly effected by the news.

" It's not him." was all he said. Everyone looked at him, the slightest glint of hope in their eyes. Mine, however, stayed blunt.

"Knuckles, I saw him. All the proof is in that note! And you have the nerve to say it wasn't him? You really are dense, aren't you?"

Instead of another challenge to fight, like I was expecting, Knuckles just turned and walked only other thing he said was; " I'm not sure what went down here, but I'm sure of one thing. Chris isn't a traitor. Whether he was being black mailed or being mind control, he wouldn't turn his back on us willingly. He'd never try to harm us in any way, shape or form. If you attempt to even harm a hair on his head, I will come after you. Any of you. He is not to be harmed, and I'll see to that. And one more thing, I wouldn't trust my own eyes; after all, seeing isn't always believing." And then he was off. Leaving everyone, including me, in a stunned silence.

_Was it possible? Could Chris be under some sort of mind control?_


End file.
